Jamila Osman is a trainee investment manager in the graduate training program at Baillie Gifford. She graduated from Edinburgh University with a First in Chemical Engineering. Our conversation starts with her upbringing in Ghana and the pioneering training high school training program that prepared her for a demanding academic load in science that paved her way to Edinburgh University.

We describe how she developed an interest in finance and this then transitions into a discussion as to what her generation is looking for in an employer today. This includes paying more than mere lip service to employee wellbeing, being mindful of mental health, offering flexible work solutions and stretch opportunities. She describes a typically intense and varied work day at Baillie Gifford and the blend of deep research time with industry network events that is so essential in an apprenticeship.

This podcast is also being released as part of our Ghanaian voices series.

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Rebecca Heun is Managing Director of Aksia LLC where she heads their Operational Due Diligence function. She has spent 18 years at Aksia and prior to that held a series of other financial roles. We met during a recent trip to Omaha, and what followed was a fascinating fresh look at the process of operational due diligence as well as a deep dive into financial sector start up life.

Our conversation starts with Rebecca's aspirations to be on Broadway, and how some practical realities led to a detour into initially audit and other back office financial roles. A move to NYC followed and some assertive moves that led to Rebecca ultimately interviewing to be one of the early employees at Aksia, then a bare start up. She spearheaded the operational due diligence function there and later led their expansion into London. We dig in to the craft of operational due diligence and the importance of psychology, studying human behavior, the desire to present everything in a glowing and positive light and the importance of both reading between the lines and digging in to motivations and the reasons for certain disclosures. This gets to the essence of fraud, and we learn about the fraud triangle and the circumstances that often have to be in place for fraud to take place.

Moving then to the recent phase of her career, we hear about pivots, dialing up and dialing down intensity when necessary, as well as other entrepreneurial urges that she has occasionally listened to. Her latest passion is a focus on health, and the importance of modulating stress so as to focus on the body's balance and resilience.

This is a fascinating discussion about a less well understood aspect of the due diligence process.

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Jo Natauri is Founder and managing Partner of Invidia Capital Management, a healthcare focused private equity firm founded in 2024, with a focus on middle-market buyouts in North America. She was formerly Global Head of Healthcare Investing in the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs.

We start by discussing Jo's path to investment banking and how she chose the business side of healthcare over policy. We discuss her long period of apprenticeship and then leading investments while at Goldman Sachs and her decision to strike out in her own firm.

Jo explains the diversity within healthcare, from biotech to hospitals, and the permanent base of demand that makes it a good sector to invest in. She discusses her core beliefs, including avoiding investments that increase drug prices or target vulnerable populations, and discusses the opportunity set that excites her in the middle market arena.

When it comes to mentors Jo has had some legendary investors within her circle and cites the apprentice nature of the investment business as a key aspect to be remembered and observed across the seniority spectrum.

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.